Author's Note: Here comes the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it. Opinions on Peyton were pretty divided but personally, I don't think sending that letter was purely selfish or evil. Yes, there are aspects of Peyton that make me really mad but I can identify with her loneliness and the fact that she is hopelessly in love with Lucas. Let's just say that Brooke won't be a helpless victim at this wedding and Peyton is not an evil conniving bitch. I think she really wants Brooke there. Personally, I think the alternative of Peyton getting married without inviting the person she regards as her best friend would have been way worse.

Thanks to Tej for being her awesome self and to several other ladies (you know who you are...). Special kudos this time to Mariah. Thank you for being and American when I needed one.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or any of the characters.

ok...here goes.

5. We Are Less than Strangers

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
Tennessee Williams

Tree Hill, North Carolina, June 2016

He watched her sitting at a table on her own, right under the glittery banner that read Welcome back, Ravens! and Class of 2006 Reunion in bold letters, fingering the stem of her champagne flute.

From afar, she still looked every inch the girl he had known all those years ago. The make up on her beautiful features was immaculate as ever and her long dark hair shimmered in the lights.

But she sure had changed.

She still carried herself with the same air of confidence but her formerly bubbling, overflowing energy was somewhat more channeled, more controlled. She had grown into the astonishing woman he always knew she could be.

Yet, was she happy?

He remembered a time when she had been glowing from within, radiant and beaming with happiness. Her foot, clad in an elegant gold stiletto was bouncing up and down, a clear sign that she was nervous or stressed. Even from his place he could see how well the dress she was wearing suited her. It was a deep shade of green, a color that brought out her eyes. She was still stunning as ever but she was a stranger to him.

"May I have this dance?"

Brooke stared open-mouthed at the hand held out to her and then looked up into his face. It looked so familiar and yet it didn't. The last ten years had been kind to Lucas. He had lost all boyishness, his straight, graceful features now those of a man. She took a closer look, noticing all the things about him that had changed. His face, the face of a man that had seen the years, who was no longer nineteen.

The thin lines around his eyes didn't make him look old. The buzz cut didn't make him look shabby. The stubble around his chin didn't make him look untidy.

He was still very attractive, but in an unfamiliar, scruffy kind of way.

We are strangers, she thought.

He saw the hesitance on her face. "Come on, pretty girl" he smiled.

She frowned at the mention of her nickname and shook her head.

"I'm not that girl anymore."

He was surprised and taken aback by the hostility in her voice.

"Brooke, I was just hoping we could…"

"Could what?"

"Look, it's just a dance."

She felt strange, remembering the last time he had said the exact same words to her. Looking up at his face, she caved. It was just a dance, right? And as soon she put her small hand in his big warm one and he wrapped her arms around her gently, the awkwardness was gone.

Against her will and better judgment, it felt comfortingly familiar. She wondered if that would ever go away.

She tried to remain a safe distance, but as always with Lucas Scott, maintaining said distance wasn't as easy when he puller her close.

Brooke put her cool smooth cheek against his warm one and closed her eyes. There was still that cloud of regret looming over them, the physical nearness only adding to what she felt herself unable to overcome. Just like the last dance they had shared.

"Brooke?"

She couldn't dare look into his eyes. She might burst into tears and dammit Brooke Davis would so not burst into tears at her best friend's wedding. Ex-best friend's wedding? Ex-boyfriend's wedding? 'Gosh, I'm like Julia Roberts in this freaking movie,' she thought, 'only Lucas is not gay. And I'm not wearing anything vile and lilac.'

When the groom had asked the maid of honor for a dance she hadn't really been able to refuse but she wished she had, feeling like every eye in the room was on her; mocking her, pitying her.

Once again I'm Brooke Davis. The girl left behind.

And as soon as she had heard the first few chords of the song, she wanted to run away. The hollowness inside her expanded and threatened to consume and strangle her. Leave it to Peyton to play depressing emo even at her freaking wedding.

And it was not just any song.

It was "Overcome" by Better Than Ezra

She knew it because Lucas had once written her a letter with the lyrics in it. He had written about how much this song meant to him, how he thought it reflected his own feelings so well.

Love- struck idiot she had been at the time, Brooke had downloaded the damn thing from iTunes.

Feelings are fleeting Davis, Brooke scolded herself.

Still, against her own will, the words and the melody seemed to sweep her up and take her away. She wondered if he even remembered.

"I fell in too deep
But I learned to swim
In an undertow
Since I'm giving in…"

And then the chorus came with a hidden force and it was almost as if her inner voice had been turned into music.

"I feel strange
I feel changed
I feel strange...overcome...overcome by you"

The music expanded, widened into something grand and eternally sad. She felt so alienated. What were they doing?

"…I'm a little bit wiser, I'm a little bit sadder
I'm a little bit less, you might have guessed…"

Lucas swallowed hard. It was almost as if the song was exposing his wrongs, singing them out loud for the world to hear. Yes, he had been less to her than she deserved.

"…But if you could be staying
Tell me now, darlin', I think I'm fading
I swear I'll never trade your love for a lie…"

He had once told her he'd never trade what was between them. That given the chance, he would never let her go. And yet he had. In turn, he would now have a family. A family he had planned on having with her. So much had changed since then and today he had made a commitment to Peyton. Not only out of obligation but out of love. And still, this understanding held no absolution, the joy over the things he had now no adequate comfort for his loss. Even though he knew it was pointless, he wished he could somehow keep her in his life, make her stay. Because with her, he knew, a part of him would be lost, too.

"Brooke, I'm sorry."

She sighed when he broke the silence. She couldn't bear to hear what he had to say. Not now, anyway.

"Don't Lucas. Please, just… just don't apologize, ok?"

He tried to look into her eyes to she if she was mad and when she finally turned her face upwards he was almost taken aback by the bold, blank look on her face. Only her eyes were shimmering traitors of the feelings underneath.

"But…"

Brooke couldn't dare to look into his eyes any longer, so she pressed her face against his cheek again, her hot breath tingling on his skin as she spoke.

"Just… I just need to know. You…" She gulped. "You didn't trade us for a lie Lucas, did you?" Lucas tried to speak, but she cut him off. "Because I'll be happy for you if this is what you want. I just… couldn't stand it if you were living a lie."

He was utterly surprised. He had expected anger, even resentment, but not this. Brooke Davis wasn't putting up a fight. And that scared him.

She kept swaying in time with the music, her gaze hidden from him. His heart broke and he knew he'd never be the same.

"So just-"She paused. "Just tell me Lucas…everything you said today, you meant it, right?"

Maybe it didn't matter all that much. Whatever his answer was, a part of her would die. But she had to know. She held still for a moment, waiting for his response. He did not have to speak. Lucas was a man to stand to his words and if it had not been so she would have loved him less. It was time to let it go. To give him an absolution.

"It's ok." She said softly. "I knew you wouldn't have gone through with this if it was."

Lucas watched Brooke stepping away from him before he could explain to her, tell her… tell her what exactly?

There were no words to make this right. Maybe there never would be.

"Make both of you happy, Lucas." Brooke's voice wavered slightly but she'd say her piece. She was just hoping it would do the trick. "Anything else would be a waste."

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then briskly walked away as if only tact and the surrounding people kept her from running.

"...hold still, come on and save me
...hold still, come on and let me
...hold still come on again...
...hold still, come on and let me
...hold still, come on and let me…"

He was left on the dance floor with only Kevin Griffin's voice for company. With the fading words the realization came that she would never come back and he'd never hold her again. That and that for Lucas Scott, there was no such thing as salvation.

Lucas knew that the music was slowly fading out but he couldn't bring himself to draw away, so he slowly kept moving her in circles.
His hand was on her back, the warmth of her skin creeping through the smooth satin of her dress, the think material sliding gently across her shoulders.
He let it linger there for one more moment, let it glide down her spine in that hollow on the small of her back, almost as if this was goodbye.
In response, her shoulders moved upward, towards his face and as he stared down on the porcelain that was her skin he felt the illogical urge to bury his face in the concave line of her neck.

But the song was over and he knew he couldn't.

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t.b.c.